2 October Western San Francisco
BLUE-WINGED TEAL 3 at North Lake (Oct 02)
YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER "Audubon's" at North Lake (Oct
02)
TRICOLORED BLACKBIRD 6 at 36th & Kirkham (Oct 02)
Blue-winged Teal (4)
Northern Pintail (4)
Pacific-slope Flycatcher (2)
Tropical Kingbird (3)
Yellow Warbler (4)
Magnolia Warbler (4)
Yellow-rumped Warbler (4)
Townsend's Warbler (4)
Tricolored Blackbird (1)
Locations:
1) 36th & Kirkham (Oct 02)
2) East Wash (Oct 02)
3) Merrie Way (Oct 02)
4) North Lake (Oct 02)
3 October Outer Point Reyes - Yellow-bellied
Flycatcher (?)
Writeup courtesy of David Armstrong
Mark Eaton, Jay Withgott and I joined a small army of other birders on the Outer Point today. The YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER was refound at the Fish Docks early in the morning and continued to be seen throughout the day. Also here was a female BLACK AND WHITE WARBLER, a CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER, a Nashville Warbler, several Western Flycatchers and red-breasted nuthatches, which were seemingly everywhere on the point today.
Next stop was Nunez == totally dead. Then on to "Mendoza Junior" (ie the line of cypress trees with the bales of hay in front) where we spotted a PRAIRIE WARBLER and some other common western stuff including a Bl. thr. Gray Warbler. Mendoza Sr. was hopping with 2 TENNESSEE WARBLERS and a ridiculously cooperative BLACKPOLL WARBLER (at least until Mark tried to snap a photo of it).
The New Willows had 3 Barn owls and a great horned owl, and a peregrine passed over the ocean on our way back. We had 1 of the Ferruginous Hawks on the road to the Fish Docks (not the dark morph).
Our time was running short but on a second stop at Mendoza the PRAIRIE WARBLER had moved to the cypresses there (assuming it was the same bird) and we managed to arrive between sightings of the Mourning Warbler which Hugh Cotter et al had seen and which was refound by Michelle Brodie et al just after we left. All in all a stellar day on the Point (though not as good as yesterday by all accounts!)
Below are notes from the Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, from observations from observations of well over an hour at at least three different locations at the Fish Docks:
Description:
An obvious Empidonax flycatcher that looked surprisingly different from the Western Flycatchers in the immediate vicitinity. The bill seemed to be medium to long and of medium width with the lower mandible being entirely yellow, with possibly a small dusky tip. The face was quite striking; the head was greenish gray, with the cap appearing to be just slightly one shade darker in certain lighting conditions. The head showed the merest suggestion of a crest in certain postures.The eye ring was well-defined, circular and narrower than what one would expect on a Western Flycatcher. However, the most striking feature on the face was the noticeably pale region leading from the top of the upper mandible towards the top of the eye, giving an almost vireo-like impression to the face.
The overall coloration was less yellow-green than a typical fall Western Flycatcher. The belly was yellow, with a grayish contrasting vest open through the center of the breast. The wings showed medium primary projection beyond the tertials when viewed from below. The undertails was dark with prominent pale edges on the outer rectrices. The tail appeared to ber fairly short for bird with this primary projection.
The dorsal view of the bird was quite striking. In good light, the back was very well saturated green (not yellowish-green). The upperwing panel was quite dark, showing marked contrast relative to the back. the wing bars were broad, crisply marked and bright white, giving a very clean impression of the upperparts. The tertials were broadly edged crisp white with crisp greenish edging to the primaries and secondaries.
The pièce de résistance, however, was the bird's call, a sharp bik or pik, quite unlike any vocalization given by a Western Flycatcher. At one point, the call was given at roughly the same time as typical su-uweep call given by a Pacific-slope Flycatcher.
Analysis:
I begin this analysis with this quotation from Kenn Kaufman:Records of Empidonax out of range should never be accepted on the basis of sighting alone, regardless of how many or how skilled the observers.
It is thus with extreme trepidation that I begin this analysis.
The genus Empidonax is now in North America by at least 10 and possibly 11 species:
- Least Flycatcher
- Hammond's Flycatcher
- Dusky Flycatcher
- Gray Flycatcher
- Buff-breasted Flycatcher
- "Western" Flycatcher complex, currently treated as two different species Pacific-slope Flycatcher and Cordilleran Flycatcher
- Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
- Acadian Flycatcher
- "Traill's Flycatcher complex, in my opinion properly considered two different species Alder Flycatcher and Willow Flycatcher
Fortunately, many of these species can be readily eliminated. "Western" Flycatchers are olive above, tending to bright yellow-green in fall plumage, long primary projection, broad white eye ring with a pronounced eye ring. Buff-breasted Flycatcher is a small, brownish empid with pale buff on the upper breast, brown back. Dusky Flycatcher has very short primary projection and grayish olive to brownish upperparts. Gray flycatcher tends also to have short primary projection, though longer than Dusky Flycatcher, pale gray upperparts and a long tail. "Trail's" Flycatchers tend to have very thin to non-existent eye rings.
So, we're left with Least and Hammond's Flycatcher and more the more exotic Yellow-bellied and Acadian Flycatchers. Least Flycatcher has grayish olive upper parts. Least Flycatcher has a round head, grayish olive upperparts, large head, short to moderate primary extension. Hammond's Flycatcher is grayish olive to grayish on the upperparts, has a short tail, a short, mostly dark bill and can appear large-headed. But frankly, Acadian and Yellow-bellied Flycatchers are the only empids with eye rings that will show a strongly contrasting black wing panel with clean white wingbars (yellowish to buff on many Yellow-bellied Flycatchers).
But this is problematic assuming that the vocalization properly ascribed to this individual. The vocalization is more likely better suited for a Hammond's Flycatcher, of which one was present that day. However, the photos of that bird are strongly at odds with the written description above; the Hammdond's Flycatcher had grayish wing bars weakly contrasting with the wing and weak contrast of the wing relative to a grayish green back, hardly the bold green back, black wing and broad white wing bars and tertial edges. The dorsal description of the bird is compelling for Yellow-bellied as I thought in the field and still believe, but the description as a whole has some problems.
10.10 Lapland
Longspur
I received a call from Hugh Cotter shortly after he had left
Crissy Field where he had found the a LAPLAND LONGSPUR, only
the second record for San Francisco. I hurried over and attempted
birding amongst the din of the airshow, barking dogs, screaming
kids and other distractions. After well over an hour, I finally
heard a bird flush with a tloop-tloop call, quite unlike
anything a Savannah Sparrow would utter in flight. I carefully
approached the bird and was stunned to find the bird sitting
in plain sight at the edge of the path that makes a diagonal
through the large grassy field west of the lagoon. Below are
some digiscopes which should be better than they are given the
bird didn't move for 20 minutes and was about 30 feet from me.
Note the hint of the russet collar in the second photo.
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